Pokémon Tabletop Adventures: Gotta Catch 'Em All

Character Creation Guide

Concept

Before you start anything you should come up with a concept for a character that you would like to play. Try and fit it to the world and I will bend the world around your character to make it more interesting.

Having a concept before you start makes all the rest of the steps easier.

When creating your character, start with 6 in each stat with 28 points to spend. You may not put any stat above 14. I know that that makes for very low powered characters. Bear with me because this is where things get wonky. Unlike regular D&D, PTA characters gain a new stat at each level, instead of every 4th level. This means that you improve much more quickly, so it all balances out. After 16th level, you gain a stat point every other level.

Classes

Choose a class for your character that fits with the concept that you have created. The maximum number of classes you can take is 3, until level 25 when it goes up to 4. We are starting at level 7, so you probably shouldn’t take any extra classes at this point. You can if you know what you want to do with your character for the rest of the game, but chances are you don’t. I would suggest 2 classes tops, if that.

You should look at the needs for the classes before you place your stat points.
And the great, cardinal rule before picking your classes:

TALK TO YOUR GM!!!

Features

You get 2 base features when you pick a class. You get those automatically. On top of that, you get a feature at every level, until 21st and every other level thereafter, that you can choose from either the general features list or the class features list.

Features are what make trainers important. They are the brokenness that make Ash Ketchem soooo broken. Look through all your options before pick

Pokémon

This is probably the most important step in the whole process. You can be a great character, but without a Pokémon you are kinda at a loss.

Give me a list of 10 Pokémon from the Kanto region you would want by the end of the game. From that I will figure what Pokémon you already have.

You will start with 3 and we will work our way from there.

Also, once we have decided on Pokémon, please do give them a name. Calling a Bulbasaur “Bulbasaur” is like calling your child “Human” or your dog “Dog.” You can call your dog “Dog” but it might not be too happy about it if it understood you. To make it easier for you, if you don’t give your Pokémon a name, I swear to god that I will lower their loyalty. Makes the choice a bit simpler, doesn’t it.

The Questionnaire

Lastly, fill our the questionnaire so that you can flesh out your character. Start thinking about who your character is. What are their likes and dislikes? Who is their family? Are they in love with someone? Who? Why? What about them do they love? Don’t be afraid to do something different. You can make yourself like Misty and be terrified to the point of being frozen in place at the sight of bugs. If you give yourself something interesting like that, I am likely to give you something to compensate for the role playing opportunities and in-depth characterization.